A cruel uncle whipped Redditors into a frenzy when he sent his niece to live with another family member. He finally followed through on a long-standing threat and now is paying the price. Here is the whole story.
Orphaned Niece
OP is a man whose brother was married and had a daughter, now 13 years old.
When the little girl was just four, OP’s sister-in-law passed away. And then, just five years later, his brother died, too.
Suddenly, OP’s niece was an orphan, and the family scrambled to figure out what to do with her.
Fortunately for the little girl, both OP and her mother’s brother wanted to take her in.
Fighting for Custody
In fact, the two men fought for custody of their niece. But because the little girl never had much of a relationship with her mom’s family, OP won the battle.
So OP adopted his niece, and they have been living a mostly happy life since then.
But as the girl has moved into her teen years, she’s started to get a little sassy. When she and OP fight, his niece often tells him that she wants to go live with her other uncle.
OP always figured the girl was bluffing because she doesn’t really know her other uncle. Plus, she has a nice life with OP, as he makes good money and gives her things most kids her age don’t have.
Lashing Out
That hasn’t stopped OP’s niece from lashing out at him, though, and the constant threats were tough to take.
During one recent argument, OP’s niece again told him she wanted to go live with her other uncle.
This time, OP had had enough, and he told the girl to go and pack her stuff. She stomped off to her room, and he didn’t see her for an hour.
At that point, OP went to the girl’s room and asked her if she was ready to go. She got scared and told him she didn’t mean what she said and wanted to stay with him.
Proving His Point
But OP was ready to prove his point and made his niece get in the car. Then he drove her to her other uncle’s house and dropped her off.
A week later, OP called his niece and asked if she was ready to come home. She jumped at the chance but hasn’t been talking to him since he brought her home.
Between the girl and her other uncle, most of OP’s family soon found out what he had done. They started hounding him, and they all think he’s an awful person.
Since the girl came home, she and OP have talked through their situation. They have both apologized to each other, and some things have changed.
Unconditional Love
OP told his niece that he really was just trying to prove a point and that he would never give her up for real. He says he loves her too much.
His niece is working on forgiving OP, but she’s asking for special favors in the meantime. Most of those revolve around him doing things she wants to do in their spare time together.
Now, OP feels terrible for making his niece feel unloved, but he thinks they’re stronger for the experience. If only he could get his family to see things his way, life could go on as usual.
For the most part, Redditors think OP was wrong to do this to his niece, and they believe he’s glossing over the hurt he caused.
Many of them relate stories from their own past and think the girl will have abandonment issues because of the way OP treated her.
A few commenters think OP was just showing some tough love to a spoiled teen, but they took a lot of backlash from their fellow Redditors.
The post Dumping Her on Strange Uncle’s Doorstep – Tough Love or Guaranteeing a Future With Abandonment Issues? first appeared on The Net Worth Of.
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock / Violator22
Source: Reddit